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Open Alpha Release

After countless years of development we’ve finally reached a first major milestone!
It has been a bumpy ride with many ups and downs. We have been fortunate enough to have a dedicated enough fan base to keep pushing us along and for that we are forever in your debt!

We hope you enjoy what we’ve been working on.
But the road does not stop here, there are still many more milestones to conquer, and we hope you follow us on this journey.

RESOLUTION QUICKFIX: YOU NEED TO SET FORCEDASPECTRATIO TO 4:3

This can be done inside the Video Settings under Options after you launch GZDoom.

If you don’t do this, Total Chaos will render in a square. Unfortunately Total Chaos isn’t currently optimized for any resolutions other than 16:9/10, so some stretching may happen on certain resolutions.

Welcome to Fort Oasis, an island filled with mystery and a horrid history waiting to be uncovered. The Open Alpha includes 2 of 6 levels that will feature in the full mod and is roughly 20-45 minutes in duration (depending on how you play)

A few things to note:
This release is still in Alpha. A lot is yet to be optimized and there will be a couple of bugs here and there

We’re still polishing up a lot of stuff here, so nothing you see is considered final

The mod requires GZDoom to play, the latest version (found here) is recommended

The mod requires doom2.wad to play, we’re still working on stand-alone IWAD configurations

Motion Blur is currently disabled due to performance issues, potential release of this in a week or so

Sanity mechanics have been excluded from this release, we’re still balancing this feature

Some story elements are excluded (wall messages, some level placed letters, etc)

We hope you have fun playing the Alpha, please let us know what you think!

35 thoughts on “Open Alpha Release”

I’m sorry to say that this mod, apart from the textual bits and the HUD, renders as completely black for me. GZDoom g2.2.0 on Linux x64. Fails to start on Zandronum 2.1.2. I’m getting loads of errors in the console.

Hey Aaron, can you hear any sounds when you start the mod up? there is a short loading period when beginning the first map where the screen will remain black for a brief moment before text will appear.

so I tried playing this, since as a modder I was curious if you actually succeeded to circumvent certain GZDoom limitations. Turned out, not so much 😛

Recorded a video about some bugs in the very first location.
Used gzdoom-x64-g2.3pre-292-g747b612 (latest Windows x64 build at DRD website).

In general, IMO you should put more explanations on how things work for the player.
Also, the blinking lights EVERYWHERE just hurt my eyes (a bit after the start, in the tunnels with the first zombie encountered). It’s not about epilepsy, it’s about common sense. Perhaps reduce the contrast of the blinking? (i.e. 50% bright to 100% bright instead of 0% to 100%?)

Also, I had whopping 107fps in 1280×720 and around 70 in 1920×1080.
i5-6400, GTX 950. The requirement for i7 seems too high, videocard gets raped more.

A lot of the static meshes are yet to have their sizes optimised. A lot of them (including the roots) are still very low, possibly around 8 units in size. Increasing the size should hopefully solve the problem in some instances.

The item highlighting would be a fairly simple affair. Add a line of sight and a distance check to interactive and obtainable items. Upon passing both checks, the object renders a second model, which would be a normal inverted and spherified version of the item in question, rendered as a solid color at fullbright. This would act as an outline effect and could be made to pulse opacity between 100 and 255.

Hey Aaron, were you able to get the mod running? Flick me an email at wadaholic@gmail.com and I could send you my GZDoom config file, I’m guessing there may be a setting somewhere that may not be switched on/off. Also if you can, flick me your system specs.

Wow, been watching this mod for a few years now and it was great to finally get my hands on it. I enjoyed what I played quite a bit, but unfortunately I was only able to play about 15 minutes before the flashing lights started giving me an intense headache. I don’t have epilepsy and have never been prone to this, so it really surprised me how bad it effected me. I’d love to see more of the game, but as it is I simply can’t continue. Please consider either dialing back on the flickering lights or at least providing an option to disable them, so that myself and any others with this problem can enjoy the game that you put so much work into.

finally, after all this time, it’s here! all these years of waiting, and the alpha has been released, and…
eh, it’s alright.

all joking aside, i liked the aesthetic. and there are some pretty nice touches, like how if you get killed by those floating things, it says you killed yourself, and the flashing lights, while very annoying, did help to create an atmosphere that makes you feel vulnerable and helpless.

however the problem with that first area is the tight corridors can lead to you being trapped, as you can’t effectively dodge past the enemies. it might make sense to be able to dodge through the floating enemy when they’re not attacking. also, parts like the flashing corridors, where you feel helpless and panicked, should generally be easier than the rest of the game, as people won’t be thinking clearly, and they will likely die a lot, and that terror will turn to frustration. it’s a difficult balance of maintaining atmosphere and challenge, but i think you’re up to it.

after all, this is just the alpha. i’m sure great things are to come, or at least pretty good ones

There have been many who have followed the mod since its infancy, I didn’t feel it would be right to cut the cord on the mod before it was finished and move it to a more modern engine. Although I may consider it once the mod is out… if people like it 😉